Happy International Sloth Day

I hate to kick off a special day on a sad note, but it turns out I made a pretty stupid mistake.

When I first learned today — Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021 — was International Sloth Day, I assumed it was dedicated to people who are habitually disinclined to exertion.

Sloth Day, I wrongly assumed, was a day to celebrate laziness, a day designed to pay tribute to people like me, by which I mean people who enjoy spending an entire day lying on the couch, eating Haagen-Dazs directly from the container and yelling for someone to fetch the TV remote control because it would be impossible to reach without physically moving.

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So you can imagine my surprise when I discovered that today is, in fact, dedicated to a different kind of sloth — those cute and cuddly slow-moving animals whose name is synonymous with one of the Seven Deadly Sins and tend to spend most of their day sleeping and hanging upside-down from trees in tropical rainforests.

“Hang out and celebrate International Sloth Day this October 20. Sloths are slow-moving mammals often found in Central and South America. The two major types are the two-toed and three-toed sloths. Although sloths look like some kind of furry bear/monkey, their closest relatives are anteaters and armadillos,” according to the holiday website nationaltoday.com.

Barry, a two-toed sloth, eats his lunch at Little Ray’s Nature Centre in Sarsfield, Ont. on Thursday, February 18, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle

“Sloths spend their lives in the tropical rain forests. They move slowly — covering about 40 yards per day, munching on leaves and twigs. Sloths have an exceptionally low metabolic rate and spend 15 to 20 hours per day sleeping. These long-armed animals are also excellent swimmers.”

Along with looking ridiculously cute — three-toed sloths have facial colouring that makes them look like they’re always smiling — sloths play an important role in tropical ecosystems.

“Scientists estimate in a healthy tropical forest, sloths should make up a significant percentage of all the mammals living in the forest,” according to slothconservation.org. “Like the herbivores of the savannah, sloths are the grazers of tropical ecosystems, playing an important role in the cycling of resources throughout the forest.”

Unfortunately, they are at serious risk because their rainforest home is becoming more degraded with each passing day. They are also an antidote to our fast-paced digital lifestyles, reminding us that even slow-movers can be successful.

And, according to Scientific American, three-toed sloths are officially the slowest-moving mammal on the planet. A serene lifestyle and an ability to modify body temperature make them the masters of the art of lazy.

Sadly, Winnipeg’s very own beloved three-toed sloth, Chewbacca — better known as “Chewy” — died in 2018 after spending about 19 years at Assiniboine Park Zoo. He was believed to have been 25 years old.

SUPPLIEDThe Assiniboine Park Zoo announced the passing of it’s sloth Chewbacca, Friday. Known by zoo staff as Chewy, the 25-year-old animal was found dead in its enclosure a week ago.

“He was unique — just the name alone — made him kind of special,” Assiniboine Park spokesperson Laura Cabak said at the time of Chewy, who earned his name by looking remarkably like the furry Star Wars character. “He was here for a long time and anytime an animal goes it’s sad, but there are some that we develop closer relationships with and I think Chewy was one of them.”

Chewy was a longtime favourite among zoo visitors and was “known for taking long and luxurious naps.” Speaking of taking long naps, most special day websites suggest that would not be a bad way to pay tribute to these perpetually smiling and docile creatures.

But as soon as you wake up, get off the couch, head to your computer, Google slothconservation.org and make a donation — or even adopt an orphaned sloth — to help save these threatened creatures and protect their natural environment.

Then take a well-deserved break and read today’s batch of inspiring and uplifting news reports. Don’t forget: The slower you read them, the longer they’ll last.

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SELANNE STILL SERVING UP SMILES

Free Press sportswriter Mike McIntyre has one of the best jobs in the world.

Case in point: on a recent trip to watch the Jets play the Anaheim Ducks, Mike got to sit down with Teemu Selanne, the beloved Jets legend who is living the good life just a stone’s throw from the Pacific Ocean.

Mike and the Finnish Flash had a great chat inside Selanne Steak Tavern, a high-end eatery the Hall of Famer owns along the stunning pacific Coast Highway. He shoots, he scores.

FINDING THEIR FEET

There were tears, laughter, joy, incredible dancing — and a semblance of normalcy — last week as the Royal Winnipeg Ballet launched its 2021-22 season with Perpetual Motion, its first fully staged production with a live audience in 19 months. 

An emotional André Lewis, the company’s artistic director, took the stage before curtain to welcome fans back to the Centennial Concert Hall, his voice cracking while acknowledging the loud cheers.

The evening provided the mostly older crowd of masked, physically distanced viewers the opportunity to witness the steely resilience of a troupe that was forced by the pandemic to present its entire season online last year. That’s really on-point. 

Daniel Crump / Royal Winnipeg BalletThe Royal Winnipeg Ballet performs Seventh Symphony at the Centennial Concert Hall.

‘CAMERA, ACTION!’ FOR ROBERTSON’S SAGA

There’s nothing like a deal with Disney to put a smile on a busy man’s face.

Just ask Winnipeg author and podcast host David A. Robertson, the rights to whose young-adult Misewa Saga series were just acquired by ABC Signature, a part of Disney Television Studios.

“I’m thrilled, I’m not going to lie,” Robertson told the Free Press’s Ben Waldman Friday morning. “It’s quite crazy. A bit of a dream come true.” Just bear with him. 

MANITOBANS SOAR AT MUSIC AWARDS

Manitoba performers and those behind the scenes aren’t going to let a little thing like a pandemic hold them down.

If you need proof, this province claimed 14 of the 22 music and industry awards announced during a livestream Friday evening of the 2021 Western Canadian Music Awards.

Two Winnipeg singers, Begonia and Kelly Bado, won two awards apiece. That’s music to our ears.

Begonia (the stage name for Alexa Dirks) was named pop artist of the year and won recording of the year for The Fear Tour (Live), her concert album recorded at the West End Cultural Centre. (Alex Lupul / Winnipeg Free Press files)

PEDAL TO THE HOME-RENO METTLE

A local home reno company, Velo Renovations, is two-wheeling its way to success.

Instead of loading tools and supplies into a van or half-ton, employees rely on pedal power to get from one job site to another, regardless of the season or weather.

Clients who hire this environmentally committed company to paint a living room or patch a wall continue to be surprised when crews arrive on two wheels, especially during a torrential downpour or January cold snap. This is a really wheeled story.

Maraleigh Short (left), Shamaun Chowdhury, and Nathaniel De Avila tackle the same projects as most so-called conventional reno operations. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)

CANADIAN AMONG WINNERS OF NOBEL PRIZE

When the phone rang around 2 a.m. telling David Card that he won the Nobel Prize for Economics, the Canadian-born economist thought it was a stunt.

But when he saw the phone showing a Swedish number he thought maybe it wasn’t a joke after all.

Guelph, Ont., born Card, 65, was awarded one half of the prize, while the other half was shared by Joshua Angrist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Dutch-born Guido Imbens, 58, from Stanford University. Good thing he took the call.

YOUR FEEL-GOOD ANIMAL STORY OF THE WEEK

For two years, a bull elk in Colorado was seen wandering around with a tire trapped around its neck.

Earlier this month, a community tip from Pine, Colorado, allowed wildlife officers to finally free the four-year-old wild animal of the heavy rubber hindrance.

“Being up in the wilderness, we didn’t really expect to be able to get our hands on the elk just because of the proximity or the distance away from civilization,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife officer Scott Murdoch said in a news release. That’s a bit harder than fixing a flat.

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